2 Maccabees

From BluWiki

A picture illustrating the triumph over Antiochus and the honoring of the Maccabees.

2 Maccabees is second of four Maccabees books. It is a deuterocanonical (secondary to the Bible) book which focuses on the Jews' revolt against Antiochus and concludes with the defeat of the Syrian general Nicanor in 161 BC by Judas Maccabeus, the hero of the work.

It is often used as support for the Doctrine of Purgatory within the Catholic Church, but in other Prostestant denomanations it is seen as a part of the Apocrypha.

Purgatory Passage

For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, so that they might be delivered from their sin." (2 Maccabees, 12:44-45, NRSV).